Powershell: Uninstall software on remote computer

Ok. It’s time to uninstall a application using powershell. This post is continuation to Powershell: Script to query softwares installed on remote computer where I discussed about procedure to query installed applications on remote computer without using Win32_Product WMI class. The one advantage with Win32_Product WMI class is it’s uninstall() function using which we can trigger uninstallation of softwares on local or remote computer.

In this post, I am going to provide a powershell script which provides same functionality as uninstall() function of Win32_Product WMI class. My code uses GUID of product to trigger the uninstallation by passing it to msiexec process. It also triggers the uninstallation in silent mode so no UI will appear for the user while performing the uninstallation.

Code goes here…

[cmdletbinding()]            

param (            

 [parameter(ValueFromPipeline=$true,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]
 [string]$ComputerName = $env:computername,
 [parameter(ValueFromPipeline=$true,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true,Mandatory=$true)]
 [string]$AppGUID
)            

 try {
  $returnval = ([WMICLASS]"\\$computerName\ROOT\CIMV2:win32_process").Create("msiexec `/x$AppGUID `/norestart `/qn")
 } catch {
  write-error "Failed to trigger the uninstallation. Review the error message"
  $_
  exit
 }
 switch ($($returnval.returnvalue)){
  0 { "Uninstallation command triggered successfully" }
  2 { "You don't have sufficient permissions to trigger the command on $Computer" }
  3 { "You don't have sufficient permissions to trigger the command on $Computer" }
  8 { "An unknown error has occurred" }
  9 { "Path Not Found" }
  9 { "Invalid Parameter"}
 }

Note that you need my previous script(Get-InstalledSoftware.ps1) and the one discussed in this article(Uninstall-InstalledSoftware.ps1) to make this uninstallation works since the code discussed in this article depends on the output of Get-InstalledSoftware.ps1 script.

Usage:

1. Run Get-InstalledSoftware.ps1 script and note the GUID of application that you want to uninstall.
2. Run Uninstall-InstalledSoftware.ps1 -GUID <<uninstall application GUID here>>

Uninstall-InstalledSoftware.ps1 -GUID “{54D3F6B5-515B-45B8-8F41-FC4D26FEFFEA}”

Test this script in test environment before you try on any production computer. Any improper use of this script can trigger the uninstallation of multiple applications if handled improperly.

This can made as single liner…..

.\Get-InstalledSoftware.ps1 -ComputerName MyPC1 | ? {$_.AppName -eq “iTunes” } | .\Uninstall-InstalledSoftware.ps1

This triggers the installation of iTunes applications. Please note that at any point of time you are passing the output single computer to Uninstall-InstalledSoftware.ps1.

This is just a initial version. I will enhance it to accept multiple computers and multiple uninstallations at same time. I will also make it more robust to track the uninstallation process.

Hope this helps..

Your comments are welcome